An Olympian in 2008 and 2012, Hall is considered the fastest American marathoner with a time of 2:04:58, which he ran at the 2011 Boston Marathon. Hall is also the only American runner to have broken the one-hour barrier in the half marathon.

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Here, elite runners, coaches, and other notables in the sport share their reactions to the news.

Meb Keflezighi, former Mammoth Track Club teammate of the Halls

“I’d like to congratulate Ryan Hall on a great career. He accomplished so much. I’m glad to have trained and competed with him. In addition to being a great athlete, Ryan has been a great friend. I wish him the very best in his retirement. I’ll be joining him in that club soon.”

Dathan Ritzenhein, who competed against Hall since high school

“I’m shocked,” Dathan Ritzenhein said by phone as he first learned of Hall’s retirement from Runner’s World. Ritzenhein, a 2:07:47 marathoner who was ninth, one place ahead of Hall, in the 2008 Olympic marathon, said, “this enables me to look back 15 years. I can remember racing at Foot Locker [Cross Country] in 2000. We’ve always been together since.”

The other runner in the top three at Foot Locker that year was Alan Webb, the American mile record holder who retired two years ago. “It’s funny when you see people you came up with start dropping away,” Ritzenhein said. “It’s like being an older person seeing your friends pass away.”

“I had such respect for Ryan and was glad he made the decision before being forced out of running by a more serious injury or something. It would be very hard to be hostile to Ryan. The running world’s a brotherhood to begin with. The camaraderie is really tight. I know he’ll be there at the trials to cheer on Sara. I’d love to be able to shake his hand say,‘You had an amazing career, and you inspired me.’” Hall’s recent doldrums should not “overshadow the five or ten years when he did such amazing things,” Ritzenhein said.

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Alan Webb, American mile record holder, second to Hall’s third place at the 2000 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships

“I definitely didn’t want to run against him on the roads, he was so good. When he got the half marathon record [59:43], I was trying to figure out what pace that was. I had just done a long interval session with 70-second laps. I couldn’t even wrap my mind around how fast that [59:43] was. I was absolutely amazed by him.

I was inspired by him as a person. He’s someone who stands up for what he believes in. He stands up for his faith, which is something I admire.

I know my own struggles with not getting back what you put into it, if that’s what it was [for Hall]. If it feels like the work you put in can yield negative results, that’s a frustrating thing.”

“I met Ryan and Sara while I was living with Alicia Shay in Flagstaff. They all went to Stanford together. We’d do these big potluck dinners together. Eventually I went for runs with them, I dog-sat for them, I helped paint their house, I moved in right around the corner. It evolved into a friendship based on more than running.

Ryan is reserved and quiet, but he’s genuine and is a good friend. After I ran my PR at the Berlin Marathon, he was one of the first people to contact me and congratulate me. For him to reach out was really special to me—it was a big moment in my career, so to have him wish me continued success, I really appreciated that. You don’t always find people like that. When they’ve had so much success themselves, other people’s success maybe doesn’t mean that much to them. But in Ryan’s case, you can tell he really does care.

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He brought back a lot of hope to American distance running and he’s inspired a lot people in all the years he was running from high school, college, and then certainly when he ran his half marathon record. He made people realize that American running is on the rise and there is hope for us to run well on the world stage. We can compete with Ethiopia and Kenya and powerhouse countries. He was one of the first ones that helped us realize that we can bridge that gap.”

Nick Arciniaga, a 2:10 marathoner who has competed against Hall since high school

“The only time I ever beat Ryan in a race was the 2014 Boston Marathon, when he was having what we know now to be thyroid and testosterone problems. He is just still such an impressive runner to me. Just having that one opportunity to actually beat him just once, I’m going to keep that the rest of my life.

At that race, Ryan was being selfless, cautioning me to not do too much work. I could just sit back and relax, run with the top African guys, and allow Meb to run away from us. It was a selfless strategy he was telling me to take. Meb is a great friend of Ryan’s and he was hoping an American would win the race. Ryan knew that if we pushed the pace, it wouldn’t be good for any of us.

That’s Ryan’s demeanor in life as well. He’s just super selfless. Professional athletes in general have to be selfish and take care of themselves. But he’s given so much to charity and changing people’s lives—same thing goes for how he and Sara have adopted their daughters.

He’s a legend in the sport. Everything he’s done in my mind was pure and true—what the sport is about.”

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Alicia Shay, pro trail runner and teammate of the Halls at Stanford University

“We all had ups and downs through college, but part of the reason the three of us tried to support each other is that we all had a common faith. That was important to us to continue to foster that in college, which is a hard time to prioritize it. That was the foundation of us helping each other walk through the ups and downs of college life.

After that we all joined the Mammoth group and my Ryan (Shay) came into the picture. When things that tragic happen (Ryan Shay died during the Olympic Marathon Trials in 2007), the character of the people around you really comes to the surface, and I would say that Ryan (Hall) was incredibly strong alongside me through all of that. It was less than a week after my Ryan’s funeral and they showed up in Flagstaff to stay for as long as I needed. Sara and I are best friends, but Ryan was the one raking up my yard and taking the garbage out. He just served me every day I needed him. For a professional runner who was training for the Olympics—to put that aside, go out of your routine, out of your location—that’s what I think of when I hear people pick apart his training or performances. When it boils down to it, he’s a very special person who has characteristics that are golden.

At the end of the day, it’s just running. I think people make such a big deal out of his successes and perceived failures, and certainly those are notable. But when it comes down to the core and Ryan’s integrity, I’ve seen in such a difficult time that he is such an incredible person.

It was hard to see him struggle and people throw their criticism at him when behind the scenes, he is a person who is just remarkable. Since that moment in my life, they’ve become like family to me in how they care. When I hurt, they hurt and vice versa. Anybody who knows him can see he has such a strength of character that goes so far above running a 2:04 marathon—it’s hard to put into words how much more important that is.”

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Lauren Fleshman, a teammate of the Halls at Stanford

“I’m happy for him and I feel relief for him,” Fleshman said. “When you’ve tried to do something over and over again, and it’s not working out, there’s so much more to life. He has a lot to look forward to with his family and his charity work. I’m happy that his struggle with something he’s spent so much of his life loving can be over. He’ll get running back in a capacity that fits with his life.

Even in the times when he was struggling, I didn’t feel as sad for him as I would for other athletes because I knew he felt so strongly in his faith. I knew that if anyone was finding meaning in the struggle, it was Ryan. I think he left an impact in showing what it’s like to run for God and to be true to who you are in the face of other people’s expectations of you. I felt that he was very courageous.”

Bill Rodgers, four-time winner of the Boston Marathon and New York City Marathon

“I think it’s a smart move,” Rodgers said of Hall’s retirement. “He was a great champion, and he’ll be missed at the starting line.”

“He ran with great passion. He liked to run his own race. He lifted the whole sport up, and then Meb [Keflezighi] came and he lifted it up. Those two have rejuvenated American marathoning.”

“He wasn’t afraid to race the Kenyans or Ethiopians. But he had some unique qualities, the way he grew up at altitude in Big Bear, his dad [runner and coach Mickey], his family [younger brother Chad was a Foot Locker champion], and his wife Sara. You can’t do it on your own.”

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Rodgers considered Hall’s 2:04:58 in Boston in 2011 to be “brilliant. I ran my first sub-2:10 in Boston in 1975 [a course record 2:09:55]. Little did I know that more than 30 years later an American guy would be taking it down so much.”

“Ryan was a very mellow in certain ways,” said Rodgers. “He didn’t let the hype of being a 2:04 marathoner overwhelm him. He always had a smile on his face.”

Ray Flynn, agent

The race of Hall’s that stood out most in his agent Ray Flynn’s mind was his Olympic trials victory in November of 2007 in New York “because of the way and the manner in which he dominated the race on such a difficult course,” Flynn said. Hall prevailed in that race by two minutes and five seconds over runner-up Dathan Ritzenhein, despite slowing down and savoring his impending win with fans along the course in the final stages.

“It was really magical,” said Flynn. “I know he ran faster in major races, but that [trials race] was it for me.”

“He’s very easy to talk to and he connects well of people,” Flynn said of Hall. “He has a folksy down-to-earth style that’s charming. Combined with what he’s accomplished, he has a future in this sport” in some non-racing capacity.

Others voiced their support on Twitter.

I am forever changed from seeing this guy live and run fearlessly and authentically. The journey continues! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/63klpuDXqL

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